Something snuggly for little mimoo

Now that our 'chilly' winter is officially beginning next week I thought I would whip up something for little mimoo for her new big girl bed. A single bed duvet and cover was all a bit too  grown up, so I thought I could make her a little warm throw blanket made of cotton flannel and super soft pink minky purchased ages ago. I purchased this super cute flannelet from the Funky Fabrix store here in Brisbane (I could spend hours in that shop!) and they sell online also so check it out here.  I also made 2 matching pillowcases with leftover fabric and attempted to make a appliqued elephant!!! (might have to practise that one a bit more!!)

When I grow up...

photo borrowed form Tikiboo's blog

I wanted to be a fashion designer as I was always bugging my mum and nanna for old fabric scraps to make dresses for my dolls and I loved drawing and painting even well into my teens even taking on both art, drama and home economics as senior subjects at high school.  

For some strange reason upon graduating I studied accountancy/finance, worked for a stockbroker Brisbane's CBD and as soon as I gained my some credentials and experience I headed straight to London and worked for some big investment banks on their trading floor for almost 9 years and loved every single second it, until little mimoo came along and I was swiftly shown the (gold plated) door. For some silly reason, arrogant male traders seemed to object to screaming abuse at a heavily pregnant lady, geez it was not as though I would burst into tears at the slightest thing or have to run off to bin hidden under my desk to barf up every 2 secs in early pregnancy which made everyone think I had a drinking problem......;-)

The ironic part is that when I lived in London I lived near Portobello markets and quite often I would see these really cool girls who ran had a stall of custom made jeans and always wore really groovy clothes,were super tiny tiny, had australian accents and I thought I would love to do that.  They did not last long though and I wondered what happened to them, I soon found out though, as they turned that stall into a major Australian fashion house.... Sass and Bide. ha maybe mimoo could turn into the sass and bide for baby wares????

check out some others' blogged stories here and here.

Come along and join up...

I have joined a new bloggers group called blogged.  Quite frankly I need all the help I can get as I never know what to blog about and whether I should be posting on others' blog who kindly post a  comment on mine or do I just respond to their original comment on my blog..good lord the options are endless... anywhoo I like joining in on blogging challenges as it gives great ideas and plus you get to read others posts which is a always fun in a voyeuristic kind of way...

Too cute that I had to share

A recent photo of little mimoo from mothers day in her new Thula Thula top! 

check out her shop here as her clothing is just lovely and beautifully made too.

mimoo mantra monday

rainy day projects and a helping hand

The weather this week has been beyond bad, but we are lucky that our street has suffered minimal damage as compared other parts of Brisbane. The rain had stopped this morning and it was semi sunny so mr mimoo and I quickly dragged out little mimoo for a bike ride before she developed 'seasonal affectve disorder/ SAD' symptoms. 

We live on the northside and there is a local fruit/veg market weekly at Northey St City Farm which is leased from the BBC for $1 a year as sadly it is in a flood prone area (see below what happened to them on Weds)

we rode down there this morning and to see the devastation first hand is awful so the entire 'farm' was under water and they have nothing really to salvage. The markets still went ahead as most stallholders do not grow their produce there but to get back up and running and rebuild will takes ages and they are looking for donations, so if you can help out just go over to their website above and you get the details there. The do so much great work within the community for very little profit or paid workers so it would be such a shame to lose it.

Yesterday whilst housebound I was cleaning out mimoo HQ and stumbled across some great scraps of fabric I had saved for a (literally) rainy day, which I put to good use to make little mimoo a belt (sewing a bit wonky but had troubles staying straight with the buckles in the way) The fabric is apples and pears in pink and green. so cute. I purchased it from here at funky fabrix.  Their fabric is so cute and really reasonably priced and I always receive it in super quick time.  Nice to support the little guys I say.

Not nice but funny.....

Now my mum would be not to happy with me for this as she taught it is not nice to make fun of others but this blog is too funny!  

Who doesn't love a High Tea?

Afternoon Tea, Namba, Osaka, Japan - nicest peppermint tea ever!!!

Yesterday I had a very rare outing to have some morning high tea with my mum and some of her friends. My mum is part of a group of women who have been meeting up once a month for almost 30 years, yes you heard it right - 30 years!!  Obviously not all of them can make every month but mum said most of them do, as it is either lunch or dinner and each month it is someone's turn to organise and invite all the others and all invites are to be sent by post! how great is that.  

These women are so nice and supportive of each other as one lady who made a speech yesterday said 'throughout the years, they have seen each others children born and grow, married, then become parents themselves, some have lost children, husbands, businesses and they send each other nice cards in tough times and sadly recently they said goodbye to one of the group who lost a battle with cancer so it is nice to know that they will all have each other when things get tough in times ahead'.  Yesterday was their annual mother daughter lunch and I am glad I got to go to it again this year as in the past mum had to go by herself for almost 10 years whilst I was in the UK.

Poor little Brisbane

It has been raining for a few days straight here in Brisbane but thankfully today it has stopped for now, but one positive side, besides our lovely dams are getting full now,it is the comraderie shown in time of crisis from complete strangers. The above picture is of one man's working Ute being swallowed up by a flash flood in the outer skirts of Brisbane and another man driving past pulled over and swam in the creek to attached a rope to its back bar whilst the owner desperately tried to unload his tools onto land, then another half dozen passing men stopped to help and literally pull the Ute to safer ground!! How good is that??? 

In these current economic times a man and his ute and tools is literally his livelyhood and alot of the time to insure tools and work equipment is more expensive than the cost of them so alot of workmen do not bother, so for all these passing by men to stop and help is just lovely and makes me a bit teary...

Baby's got style designer profile

Regular readers of my blog will know that one of my fav kids clothing lines at the moment is Ivy Designs as her stuff is just gorgeous and little mimoo is the owner of several garments. Ivy Designs is currently being featured on Baby's got style blog in their highly coveted designer profile spots. Baby's got style is a really cool online kids store so congrats to Wynona and her sister, Anna!  It is a really well deserved accolade and you can read their story here. 

Wynona was one of my first customers at mimoo last year which is why I think she is extra great but then reading her profile I learned that she studied at Central St Martins College in London, which is where I started a diploma in interior design, though I was unable to complete the course due to the arrival of little mimoo and our return to australia, maybe one day.... No wonder I like her! check out the Ivy Designs blog/online store here.

I made something besides mimoo stock

I recently purchased this gorgeous bag from my friend at Mee a Bee as she claimed it was a second and I snapped it up.  It is beautifully made and I love the bear fabric and it has pink and white spots lining (I think I purchased it for me rather than little mimoo but anyway..)

Well, she sent along with my package the cutest Miffy the rabbit fabric. Little mimoo loves Miffy but so does her friend Molly Rose, my best friends daughter, so I thought seeing as little mimoo is really spoilt by having not one, but two Mee a Bee creations I thought I would use this fabric to make Molly Rose a little bag of her own.  My best friend is due to have her second child tomorrow so I thought she could give the little bag to Molly Rose from the new baby as she loves bags ( dont we all??). my 'efforts' are shown below. Nowhere near as nice as Mee a Bee bag but I tried my best! the bag is lined with cute pink gingham. what girl doesn't like a bit of gingham I say.

New mimoo winter stock.

For the chilly winter months ahead and one of the first mimoo products I did last winter was pram/stroller blankets.  Last winter when little mimoo was still a baby she thought it was a fun game to pull her shoe sand socks off whilst on our morning walks leaving her little tootsies exposed to the elements so I made up some stroller blankets and gave some as gifts for friends new babies.

When I moved back to Australia and started looking around for a little blanket once it started to get a bit cooler, I was amazed to only find a sea of disney branded cheap junk or realllllly expensive 100% wool blankets, which were NOT machine washable. so I have made my own using 100% cotton top side vintage-y looking fabric and then the underside being cosy cotton flannel. I love the two fabric choices above especially the colourful tulip print which is backed by a hot pink flannel.

mimoo mantra monday is back!

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks 

will accomplish nothing in life."- Muhammad Ali

mimoo went to the show

Sadly I was unable to meet up with the BrisStyle girls at our monthly meeting today as hubby is away and my mum has got this dreaded brissie cold/flu that is doing the rounds at the moment, so I (politely) asked her to stay well away as little mimoo has just got over her last sickness!! 

So instead I decided to join some friends who were visiting the Brookfield Show, which is a yearly event every May, which consists of kiddie rides, show games mixed in with a few animal demonstrations plus numerous equestrian events and cattle shows etc etc. Needless to say it is a really nice day for little ones as little mimoo rode a small pony and checked out the pigs and cows, and it is great to support a small community within Brisbane.

A great giveaway

A lovely blog I have been following for a while now is Meet me at Mike's and she recently had a book published of craft projects and she is giving away a copy of this wonderful book! So enter now before next week's draw!!

New to mimoo HQ

I am making these just in time for the 'chilly' weather ahead. When little mimoo was born in the UK, it was Christmas time and very cold indeed, in fact the day she was born they closed the entire Heathrow airport as the planes could not land due to frost! very rare for this to happen!! anywhoo I digress, when we brought her home from hospital she cried and cried and I thought it was because she was cold but our kind next door neighbour (who clearly was not getting any sleep either!) knocked on our door and gave us a pile of these flannel blankets and showed us how to wrap the little mimoo up tightly and surprising she sleep very well after that (at least for a few weeks!)

You can use them as nursing cover ups or even spillage wipes I guess (way too pretty for mopping up that muck I say!)

How cute are the flowers!! You can purchase them here at madeit.com.au

Busy hands for little mimoo

This is a great idea to fill in a quite afternoon .. I bought this ages ago from a crazy clarks/Bargain City type store when I was looking for some cheap non toxic kids water based paints (do not even get me started on how expensive/rip off the crayola brand paints are!!!)

Anywhoo I got the paint and saw this cute easy to make puppets for $2.50. I thought it was a good rainy day activity to have up my sleeve and I think i enjoyed making this up yesterday ( although it was gloriously sunny - go figure) more than little mimoo did. It had a large plastic needle to thread together the felt crocodile and then stick on velcro for vest, bow tie and eyes! super cute!

My camera battery died so did not have a chance to take a picture of the end result but it was quite good.

Another GREAT invention are these plastic kids paper scissors!!! As you can see little mimoo could not wait another single second to get her little hands on them and she just cut away most of the afternoon!! bliss...

 

mimoo is upcycling

Little mimoo goes to kindy on a weds so that is my day to get stuck into all things sewing for mimoo, but this morning I decided to take a little break and hit a few of my local thrift stores in search of some props for an upcoming market day mimoo is attending (will update you all soon with dates and details for those in Brisbane) 

I did not find anything for the stall but I found the below bookends for little mimoo and a humpty dumpty book all for the grand price of $5!  They are a little rough around the edges but I thought with a fresh lick of paint they will come up nicely don't you think??

the only challenge is keeping them actually on her bookshelf with her books!!?? yeah right...

New mimoo stock

Mimoo listed a new cot set today as I have sold all previous sets and this the very last one as I am unable to get anymore of this fabric....sadly as I love it. 

There is something about the mix of the pink with chocolate (go figure?)and I will be very sad once this goes.  It is backed with a gorgeous dusty rose pink 100% cotton which is love.

You can check it out here at etsy.com or madeit.com.au

mimoo mantra monday is back!

I recently posted about Etsy Secrets 5 day course and I finally read and re read all 5 days over the weekend and I missed a great quote the first time around so I thought I would share it with you.

His last day topic was time management and as this is a topic very close to my heart (well everyone's really!!!). I always get asked how do you do it all ? I always answer time management and a good few late nights thrown in!!

anwyhoo enough...... here is the quote to repeat to yourself often

Take a DEEP breath… and recite this to yourself, “Sloth is the language of the poor.“  - Tim Adam

Happy Mothers day!

Every day I still marvel at the divine little thing mr mimoo and I created, and whoever thought of a day celebrating mothers deserves a medal!!! yay!

Etsy secrets is worth a look

I recently signed up to do receive this FREE 5 day Etsy secrets course and I must say I have been very impressed as this guy Timothy Adams who sells on Etsy has written and produced this course and how really kick start some sales and explains all the various marketing tools you can use and gives you some pretty interesting stats. Plus he just seems like a nice bloke to so worth taking a look I think, just remember to start at day one!

To twitter or not to twitter....

I watched the show The View (yes I admit I watch it) and they had the twitter guys on as guests and they were explaining what it is all about and I must say I was impressed as I thought it was another facebook type site and frankly I am just not into facebook with that silly poking business...plus I have had a few ex boyfriends rear their ugly heads and frankly they should have stayed hidden... but I do like the sound of twitter as one of the guys explained it as a information network not a social one. I will take the plunge this weekend and let you all know.

mimoo inspiration

A few new items for the shop are coming along nicely but I am especially excited about some new baby blankets I am doing for the coming 'winter' months. I am going to be stocking some soft little flannel receiving/swaddling blankets and I have come across this a really cute flower print which was inspired by one of my favourite stores and UK designers. 

Cath Kidston UK. Some of you may know her as she is famous for some cabbage and roses fabric and some say she really started the whole shabby chic/retro explosion that hit the UK some years back.  I was lucky enough to live a few streets away in London from her flagship store in Clarendon Cross, Holland Park.  The store used to have the most beautiful Christmas window displays every year and I used to love going in there and checking  out their fabric wall and gorgeous furniture and pillows and dream that I did not live in a flat the size of a bathroom with smelly furniture and two of the devils spawn living next door...

New mimoo products

I have updated both my etsy.com and madeit.com.au stores with the first of many new mimoo items! I really loved this stripe fabric as I thought it would look great with denim and it is just bright and looks great on the floor. 

Mimoo is back! (again)

We had a lovely weekend in Cambooya attending a wedding for our great friends and it was even a bit chilly, so a few lucky babies were given some of the newly created winter mimoo stock for road testing!  Stay tuned in the coming days for some new winter additions!

Have a great weekend mimoo HQ are all off out bush again!

We are off to Cambooya for a country wedding! Very excited enjoy the long weekend everyone and good luck for those at the Stitches and Craft show!

Check out the Stitches and craft show if you are in Brisbane.

This is my kind of happy hour!!

How amazing are these creations?

I came across this website recently how amazing are these creations at Tiny Concept ???  Her name is Tina and she too lives in Brisbane and handmakes all of her work and she is inspired by various fashions (check out her Dior inspired doll on her blog) and themes from movies (see below) .

My favourite movie of all time is Breakfast at Tiffany's and my favourite scene in the one below also, so I think I must be destined to own this doll?? I musn't, yes I must , no I musn't.... I am definately buying a little mermaid for my niece in Japan for her birthday in June as she would love it! You can purchase her beautiful creations here or check out her blog as it is a lovely read. 

ps Tina even does custom orders and recently she made a doll for someone using material from her wedding dress!! ha A little mini me of bride... too funny. I think I have some material from  my wedding dress leftover mmmmnnn. Shame little mimoo has taken to dipping all her teddies and dolls in her baked beans or weetbix as I would consider getting her one....